PFL vs IFL
Person-first language (PFL) and Identity-first language (IFL) are two different approaches to talking about disability (or other cultural concepts). PFL Person-first language attempts to remove the focus on the disability (or other attribute) and emphasise the personhood of the subject before their condition. This is generally considered the appropriate language when discussing diseases. Examples * "A person with leukaemia" * "People with disabilities" * "A man with autism" Criticism Many have an issue with the assumption that people need to be reminded of the personhood of non-abled people. The idea that personhood by default means able-bodied and able-minded and that any deviation from this 'norm' needs to be emphasised as a person or else their personhood may be dismissed. This is an issue of ableism. Within the Autistic community especially, PFL has been enforced upon us for many years but today the majority of Autistic people prefer IFL, hence its use throughout this wiki. IFL Identity-first language embraces the condition (disability or otherwise) as a part of the identity of the subject, inseparable from their personhood and how they function as a person in an ableist society. Many people within the disability-rights movement prefer identity-first language. Examples * "An Autistic student" * "Disabled people" or "Differently-abled people" * "A paraplegic person" Criticism Many people are taught that PFL is 'more respectful' when studying courses in social work or healthcare. The implication is that PFL treats non-abled people as 'more than just their disabilities'. Some have raised concerns that IFL could lead to an over-identification with the limitations of one's disability. Almost all of these criticisms tend to come from abled people, while within the disabled community there is a strong consensus that identification with your disability improves self-esteem and self-image. Articles Person First Language and Ableism - Olibean By Amy Sequenzia "Now, if you start using PFL when referring to everyone, then I will join you: for example: “you are a person with femaleness that has a lot of awesomeness, a lot of smartness. Are you a person with religiousness?” Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Made my point. PFL is ableist AND ridiculous. There is another “explaining” I hear a lot: “PFL is the acceptable/official/used everywhere language”. Acceptable to whom? This is the greatest example of PFL as ableist language. It is silencing. It says non-disabled people are the ones who know what is “better” for Disabled people. It says that we, Disabled people, are non-persons who cannot define ourselves. It makes the choices of non-disabled people for disabled people, “official”. PFL is not acceptable to me, and it is not acceptable to a lot of Disabled people. If you claim to be an ally, if you claim to use PFL because you respect us as people, you are NOT respecting us. If you insist in using PFL because you don’t want to create “controversy” and defy the ableist society, if you use PFL because it is more comfortable to you, you shouldn’t claim to be an ally or advocate. If you continue to use PFL after we asked you, after we told you we want Identity First Language, you are ableist, you are silencing us, and you are not an ally." Person First Attitude Trumps Language - Olibean "Some years back Kathie Snow was instrumental in bringing us into a person first language. It was a way to show respect towards a person with a disability. This continues to be important to many today who want to be known as more than a wheelchair user, the blind gal or the seizure patient. All people like to be on par with the human race – to be counted one of the tribe of homosapiens in our world." "The way many people with an autism spectrum diagnosis wish to be recognized is with the word autistic. For us, autism is not simply an add on to our personhood, but is in fact, foundational to our identity. Just as we would not refer to an African-American as a person with Blackness, to a person of the Jewish faith as a person with Jewishness or a boy as a person with maleness, many of us do not want to be referred to as a person with autism. For us the neurology of autism is part of our identity in the same way race, religion or gender is part of a person’s identity. Just as we refer to people as Black, Jewish or male many autistics want to be referred to as just that – autistic. It is who we are in this world. Even so, not ALL people with an autism spectrum diagnosis want to be referred to as autistic. My friend Jacob, for example, explains that autism visits his body in such a way that when people see him coming they SEE the autism. Jacob feels very strongly that when others use person first language they are more likely to see him – Jacob, a fellow human being – rather than the hard of his autism in his body. I want to respect all my friends and refer to them in the way they wish whether that be autistic or person with autism. This is easy to do when I am one on one with a friend. It is very difficult to do when in a larger group where honoring one means offending another. The more I thought about this the more I began to see that even though friends may wish to be referred to in different ways this language is not really a dichotomously posed choice where we need to decide which is better and choose accordingly, being ready to defend our choice to whomever asks and especially to those who made the opposite choice. Rather than seeing the polarized language of person with autism and autistic, I see a unifying construct. I now see that when Kathie Snow invited us to use person first language she was actually inviting us to come into a person first attitude. And it is this person first attitude that unites the word usages of person with autism and autistic. We all want to be included in the human race." Research 1. Gernsbacher MA. Editorial Perspective: The use of person‐first language in scholarly writing may accentuate stigma. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2017;58(7):859-861. 2. Kapp SK, Gillespie-Lynch K, Sherman LE, Hutman T. Deficit, Difference, or Both? Autism and Neurodiversity. Developmental Psychology. 2013;49(1):59-71. 3. Kenny L, Hattersley C, Molins B, Buckley C, Povey C, Pellicano E. Which terms should be used to describe autism? Perspectives from the UK autism community. Autism. 2016;20(4):442-462. 4. Sinclair J. Why I dislike "person first" language. 1999; http://web.archive.org/web/20080616063934/http://web.syr.edu/~jisincla/person_first.htm. Accessed November 21, 2017.Category:Linguistics Category:Neurodiversity Category:Disability Category:Disabled Rights